Devil's Dice
Written by Katsushiga Hoshibi
There was a strange pounding in my chest as I stood over the body. Feeling my eyes dilate with fear, I stared at Len's lifeless body. His dull turquoise eyes stared off to the side as the rain pounded relentlessly around his body. Blood mingled with that water at my feet, the same crimson that had splashed my white long coat and clashed with the azure of my scarf.
How had I come to this..? It seemed just a few days ago, everything had been normal. I was in algebra class just a few days ago taking notes with him when I first heard the voice. That very same voice that changed my life for the worse.
ooooooo
"Isn't a shame you can't have what he has? Don't you want Rin for your own? Don't you deserve a cute girlfriend.?You should take her from him."
Looking up and around, I couldn't locate the source of the voice. Hiyama-sensei kept lecturing from the front of the class, his chalk making rhythmic strikes against the blackboard as the only sound in the classroom. It was if the voice came from nowhere and everywhere. I glanced over to Len with apprehension.
Even though he was my underclassman, he was still one of my closest friends. Part of me was shocked and disgusted that the thoughts had even come to my mind in the first place. It wasn't like me to be jealous of anyone, not to mention that I had never thought about Rin that way before.
Part of me wanted to laugh. Had I not been in the middle of Hiyama-sensei's class, I probably would have. Then I saw him.
Smiling fiendishly, the devil was almost a complete inversion of myself. Where my hair and scarf was blue, his was red. My long coat was white with gold accents, but his was black with silver. It sent a cold shiver down my spine to gaze upon him as his red eyes took me in with disturbing interest.
"What the Hell?" Standing up, I had a moment to blink before the chalk caught me square in the forehead.
Hiyama-sensei did not look impressed.
"If you're having that much of an issue with the equation, then maybe you should stay after for extra help, Kaito-kun."
Bowing deeply, I tried to gather my composure. "I'm sorry, Hiyama-sensei," I apologized as the other students laughed at me. When I rose my head, I noticed that Rin was the last person staring at me with a beautiful smile on her face, and it made my heart almost stop.
"Isn't she sweet?" The devil paced around me. "Wouldn't it be ever so great to have her as your own?"
"Shut up," I quietly replied.
Mumbling under my breath, I attempted to keep my voice as low as possible. It wouldn't serve to be sent out to stand in the hall. Just last week, I had to hold pails of water why the school idol, Miku, walked by as she giggled at the sight. I didn't want to repeat that.
"Oh, forget Miku... She's way out of your league. Now Rin, on the other hand, now she you could have."
It was almost as though he had read my mind. These creepy apparition that apparently no one else could see had an uncanny way of saying the most unexpected thing.
"Your thoughts? Yes indeed, Mr. Kaito. I know all about your thoughts and everything else. Especially what you secretly desire."
What I secretly desired? What did this strange creature know about that? If anything, he really should be trying to encourage me to take Miku out for ice cream (not that she ever accepted before, but there's always hope for the future), not going out with my friend's twin sister.
"Not so much, I'm afraid. See, you've given up on Miku in your heart. Now all there's left is to look elsewhere, and who else but Rin?"
Anyone.
"Not anyone, but someone specific. Just take a good look at her and know it's true. That warm smile. Those gentle curves of youth. That hair ribbon. Why not seize what you truly deserve?"
I didn't see what the point was. Sure, Rin was cute, but I never really saw her in that light before. Shaking my head from side to side, I didn't see what Len had to do with it, either.
"Don't you ever notice how close those two are? It's unusual," the specter said as he lowered his face to be on level with mine.
They're twins. They're supposed to be close.
"That close? Don't make me laugh," the creature said with a diabolical grin. "Do you ever see them trying to date anyone else?"
I paused.
"You get my point, don't you? Tell you what, play a simple game with me. If you win, I won't pester you again. If you lose, then why not just do what I tell you to for awhile?"
It was then that the darkness came. It came and swallowed me whole.
ooooooo
Blinking hard, I adjusted my eyes to the dim light in the odd sitting room. Red Victorian era chairs on a black rug gave the room an oddly gothic appeal as I smoothed out my jacket. Playing with my scarf, I sat down to make myself more comfortable. I nearly jumped when I noticed all of the sudden that the creature was sitting across from us with a table between.
"Perhaps I should introduce myself," the devil explained. "I'm Akaito."
Glancing him over, I couldn't help but think it some cruel joke. Not only did this creature look like me, it had also assumed a name similar to mine. It was as though someone or something was openly mocking me.
"Here's the game," Akaito said as he slide a pair of white dice over to me. "We each take turns rolling dice. The goal is to beat each other's number until we roll less than the last number rolled."
"That seems simple enough, I guess," I said as I reached down to grab my dice. It was then that a shiver of dark energy slide through my bones.
Akaito grinned wider. "One last thing, Mr. Kaito. When you touch the dice, you enter into a binding contract. Now there's no backing out."
"Shouldn't you have told me that to begin with?"
"Shouldn't you have waited to see if there were other rules?"
The devil laughed as I suffered from my ignorance.
"There's no time like the present," I grumbled as I tossed the dice. All I needed were two sixes and the game would be over in an instant. Unfortunately, Lady Lucky must've been looking the eye. Snake eyes.
"My turn," Akaito smiled, a pair of black dice materialized in his outstretched palm. Glowing dimly, his crimson eyes twinkled as they met mine, the dice already rolling. My heart caught in my throat.
Two and a three for five. It beat my score by a sound four points, putting me in a precarious spot. Even though I had a better chance at rolling higher, I wondered if I could even trust the dice. If he was a demon of some sort, there was no guarantee that he hadn't fixed the dice.
Sweating desperately, I let the dice fall to the table again. Time seemed to slow down as the dice slowly made their decent, hitting with a roll of bone on wood. Four and three for seven. Lucky number seven, but not lucky enough for my sake.
"What a number," the spirit remarked as he smiled wider.
The game was coming closer to an end, and it made my heart whimper at the direction it could take. If he rolled higher, Akaito would be sure to win. Then again, there was an equal chance he could botch it. I wasn't feeling sure about my luck at all.
Snatching up the black dice in a flurry of motion, Akaito nonchalantly let the dice fall between his finger tips, the dice rolling free to land on five and six. The devil smirked up at me as his eyes took in my reaction to what number it made. Eleven.
What a horrible number! It cursed my fate and everything I held dear. Despite this melancholy, I didn't give up all my hope. There was still a chance to win and all I had to do was roll double sixes.
Feeling the sweat build in my hands as I lifted the ivory dice, my tongue slowly flicked against my lips. As I prayed to whatever gods might hear me, I let the dice bounce across the table. They seemed to fall in slow motion, each time they met the table making a gun shot. After what seemed an eternity, the dice came to a stop.
Ten.
Akaito grinned devilishly at the dice before slowly raising his gaze to meet mine. Echoing a haunting laugh, I pushed away from the table that my diabolical counterpart had conned me into joining. Trying to run, I dashed away from the table, but all that greeted me was darkness.
ooooooo
The rest of what happened was a shadowy play. I saw myself walking towards Len and asking him to join me for a long walk after cleaning the classroom. Trapped in the prison that was my body, I couldn't scream the warning that I wanted to. My memory kept fading in and out as I watched the world move around me.
Laughing with Len, my body moved on its own accord, taking a long path into the town's outskirts. We came to an old shack as the dark clouds gathered above head. I turned with an odd smile on my face as I confronted Len.
"I've fallen in love," I heard my voice state.
Len smiled, innocent and unknowing what awaited him. It made my heart want to bleed and I desperately felt frustrated, wishing nothing more but for the ability to cry out.
"Who are you crushing on?"
"Rin."
Thunder cracked overhead as a single bolt of lightning licked the clouds. Len blinked at me with his large blue eyes, taking in what I had just said. Even from my trapped state, I could easily tell that he was deeply confused.
"...and that's the reason why I can't have you around anymore," my voice demurely explained as my hand picked up a pickaxe from the ground.
Len's eyes went from confusion to horror. "Wh-what are you doing, Kaito?"
The pickaxe's sharp bite was all the answer he got. As my possessed body continued to cut away at Len's body, the cries of the lightning above and the downpour of tears from the sky drowned out the sickening crunch of bone and organs. Nothing was there to stop the relentless assault.
Staring from Len's lifeless form to the sky, I could feel my eyes dilate with fear. The devil Akaito couldn't hold me easily with my emotions so worked up. Len's blood wasn't the only thing washed back by the torrential downpour as my emotions slowly slowed, the blood already washing out of my clothing, but not enough to remove the sin of what I had done.
Ditching my blood stained coat on top of Len, my body searched for gasoline and found a tank in the shed. After dousing the body, I took out a lighter and tossed it on the body. I wanted to wretch as I felt a satisfied smirk creep onto my lips. The funeral pyre blazed with a sinister orange flame, enveloping Len's form as I slowly walked away.
ooooooo
Knocking on the door, I had no recollection of how I had gotten there or where exactly I was. The shadowy play continued as I stood at the door, drenched from head to toe, waiting for something dreadful to occur. Whereas the sight of such an angel- what were my thoughts doing?- were no cause to fear, the sight of Rin sent a shudder through the very core of my soul.
"Kaito? What are you doing here?" She looked me over quizzically, noticing my lack of coat and drenched from the pouring rain.
"I couldn't keep myself away," my voice said of its own. "I needed to see you."
She fluttered her lashes in confusion. "Um. Okay."
"I had to see my lovely angel again," I remarked as I bent the knee to her, kissing the back of her hand lightly as I felt Akaito's smile curve upon my lips.
Blushing, Rin looked around as though this were some bizarre joke played upon her by myself and her brother. His absence was not unlike a dull throb of some concussion landed at the back of my head. As I knelt in the damp threshold, I felt the memory of his existence slowly slip away into the darkness of the night.
"Um. So. Why don't you come in? I haven't seen Len around, but I guess it should be all right."
Slowly rising to my feet, I felt Akaito's grin on my face, a cruel reminder of who was controlling my life from now on. As I stepped past the threshold, it felt as though everything in the world was being turned upside down. My stomach churned as I wondered about what Akaito planned on doing next.
The only thing louder to be drowned in the sky's sorrowful torrent than the brother's screams were that of his sister as Akaito forced me to take the prize won in a game of dice with the devil.